This application relates to the field of display clips.
The Pinewood Derby®, or pine car race or pine wood car race, is a popular annual racing event wherein children, with the help of their parent or other adult, build and paint small model cars from wood, usually from kits containing a block of pine, plastic wheels and metal nails as axles. The cars race by gravity power on a track and also are judged for design and originality. The event originated from Cub Scouting, a part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America® (BSA), available to boys from first through fifth grade, or 7 to 11 years of age. The official BSA Pinewood Derby® rules require fixed dimensions for the car's wheelbase and set maximum dimensions for the length, width, height, weight and underbody clearance. With the popularity of the Pinewood Derby® for Cub Scouts, other organizations have developed similar pine car events, sometimes with slightly different rules, including Awana, Christian Service Brigade, Royal Ambassadors, Royal Rangers, Scouts Canada, Woodcar Independent Racing League and YMCA.
Other similar events for Cubs Scouts involving model vehicles are the Raingutter Regatta® and Space Derby®. The Raingutter Regatta® involves racing a handcrafted model sailboat within a water filled channel using lung power. The Space Derby® involves racing a rubber band propelled handcrafted model rocket along a taught cable.
Although not every pine car or other model wins an award, each is considered a trophy in itself. It is a testament to the many hours of hands-on, often painstaking labor and creativity shared by the child and parent or other adult. Naturally, therefore, children are proud to display their vehicles as if displaying a trophy. Of course, the cars can be displayed simply out on a desk, shelf, table or other flat surface. But, as they are not generally designed to be durable—needing to last only a few races—leaving a car casually about could easily result in its damage or destruction. This stems from their repeated or even ordinary handling out of curiosity, for play, to show off, or to move out of the way as they compete for valuable space with other items invariably generated by youth through sports and other activities. In the case of Cub Scouts, moreover, a boy could have built up to five pine cars during the five-year Cub Scout program. Participating in a pine car race, however, is not mandatory and may be prevented in any given year due to lack of time, effort, motivation, opportunity or similar factors. Thus, during his five-year enrollment as a Cub Scout, a boy could make as few as one car and as many as five cars.
There is presently no known display device able to accommodate, in advance, a varying or unknown number of pine cars or similar model vehicles without leaving a fixed component of the display empty in the interim, while at the same time being aesthetically pleasing for household use, compact in dimensions and allowing easy removal of the models while simultaneously showcasing it for maximum viewing effect. Nor is there a known display apparatus incorporating the above features that allows the child to create a pine car or model display that suits their particular style and creativity, while allowing the space for more models to be displayed in future years.
Although several pine car display devices are presently available, none adequately address the considerations stated above. Some of the known displays can accommodate only a single car in a fixed orientation, thus requiring one stand per vehicle. Other displays have a forward tilted flat plane that holds up to three cars, but occupies more flat space than the three cars occupy individually. Thus, these devices are not designed to conserve or maximize space. Moreover, some displays require two mounting screws beneath the car that fit into corresponding notches on the base mounting bracket. In some cases, any metal weight plates affixed to the undercarriage of the pine car that interfere with the screws location would have to be removed to use this stand, thus requiring a modification in the original car. Regardless, the screws necessarily would generate holes in the finished car.
Other known displays avoid the flat display design by being a vertical wall mounted unit. But, the number of cars it can hold is fixed, thus requiring it to be available in different capacities depending on the number of cars to display. Since it can never be known years in advance how many pine cars a youth will build, final display and settling on a particular capacity would have to wait until the child will no longer be involved in the event. In the meantime, the cars accumulate without any formal display, thereby increasing the risk of damage, destruction or loss while decreasing valuable surface space. Moreover, these handcrafted units are plain in design, oriented so only the side of the car can be seen and bulky to the point of overwhelming the showcased pine car.
Some other known devices display objects in a cantilevered orientation that relate to commercial uses only such as the display of merchandise for retail sale, require significant components, are not designed to be discrete or concealed and are not reasonably adaptable to personal or household use to display pine ears or the like in a compact and pleasing manner that makes the car the focus of attention without comprising the appearance of its surroundings.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,258 discloses a device that is adapted to carry merchandise on a retail display fixture comprising a rotating base affixed to a special wall unit configured to attract buyers' attention and to secure the item from easy removal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,215 discloses a device that is an arm to display product information for sale in a hanging configuration. U.S. Patent Application 2007/0084977 similarly involves a longitudinal display arm, but with welded and bolted connections, designed to be wall mounted and requiring that the model be securely affixed directly to the arm through mounting holes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,986 relates to an inventory restraining device for efficiently displaying merchandise in a hanging fashion and for controlling inventory. U.S. Patent Application 2007/0187567 is designed to hang model diecast cars from their rear tires, and so employs substantial retaining springs and other tension devices that would damage a model pine car. U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,284 discloses a device that comprises many components designed to retain tools via the use of direct contact with spring clips. Although within the general field of display devices, none of these patented devices could reasonably showcase a child's pine car or other model vehicle with the above described considerations, nor do they claim to be suited for such.